I never thought I’d remarry in a million years after my divorce, but what Beast and I have is special. I wish I wouldn’t have overheard him on the phone. The time we’d spent together was dangerous, exciting and down right fucking sexy. I’d never grow tired of his huge arms wrapped around my petite body, keeping me safe from the bad guys. But first, I’d better make myself scarce.
I threw on my robe and scurried off into the kitchen before he came back in and realized that I had heard everything that he said. The confidence that he spoke with was amazing. He was so sure that he was going to marry me that he was already getting things set up with his club, and he hadn’t even proposed to me or anything. I wish I could go in and tell him that I’m a bit old-fashioned and things aren’t that easy. My first husband had to get my father’s approval. Beast had yet to even meet my dad.
While he was talking to the president of his club, my cell phone rang. It was the attorney. He left a message saying that the warrant had been dropped and the police were no longer listening in on my conversations. The detectives who were working the case had the original victim in custody and were interviewing him. Unfortunately, Beast wasn’t completely out of the woods yet. The prosecutor noted that a brutal attack had taken place against the victim and was considering bringing attempted murder charges against him. That was something we would attack if the charges were brought up but at that moment, he was a free man.
Sitting in the kitchen waiting for him to come in, I thought about how he was making all these arrangements without me. It kind of made me sad and pissed off at the same time. I know I’d already been through a wedding before, but he didn’t know if it was the wedding of my dreams or not, or what I expected a wedding to be like. Who the hell does he think he is? Then again, I knew who he was. He called the shots while everyone else listened, and that’s what he expected. But wouldn’t he at least give me any say in my own wedding? A few minutes later, he came strolling into the kitchen.
“Anything you wanna tell me?” I asked before he had a chance to sit down.
“Sounds like somebody was being nosy.”
“No, I was just drying off and you weren’t trying to hide what you were saying. Why wouldn’t you ask me to marry you before you went off and started making plans?”
“God damn, you women. You’re fucking pissed because I told Stone that I wanted to make officially make you my old lady?”
“What did you expect?”
“You know what Paige, you’re really fucking cute when you’re mad.”
“Don’t Beast. Don’t you dare patronize me. Seriously.”
‘Okay, okay, hold on,” he said as he walked into the bedroom and grabbed a sheet. He brought it around me and tied it around my neck, allowing the sheet to hang down my back.
“What in the hell are you doing?” I asked.
“You said you were mad so I made you this cape. Now you’re super-mad!” He could barely contain his laughter as he completed his sentence.
He bent down to look me in the eyes as my face turned crimson. As furious as I was with him, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. He was being so ridiculous and it actually worked to ease the tension.
“Don’t think that just because I laughed that this conversation is over. I’m still mad,” I said.
“Babe, you know I love you. Don’t be mad. Everything is gonna work out exactly like it’s supposed to. Anyway, what were you doing?”
“The lawyer called to give us an update. The cops aren’t listening in on my calls anymore and they won’t be following me either.”
“Really? He’s got everything worked out?”
“He talked to the prosecutor. Your warrant has been quashed, at least for the time being.”
“For the time being? What does that mean?”
“The detectives are interviewing the so-called murder victim. Apparently the prosecutor still wants to consider filing attempted murder charges against you.”
“What the fuck? Why does that dude have such a hard-on for me? Fuck it, I didn’t try to kill the guy and I’m not going to worry about anything until there is actually something to worry about. So my warrant is gone right now?”
“Yep.”
“So I’m completely free.”
“Free as a bird.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Go get your keys so we can go for a ride.”
I threw some clothes on, grabbed my purse and went out to the driveway where Beast was already seated behind the steering wheel.
“So I guess you’re driving then?”
“Sure am. Get in.”
“Where are we going?”
“If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Just get in and let’s get on the road.”
CHAPTER 25
BEAST
Driving down the highway at about 80 miles per hour is a lot different in an SUV made for soccer mom than it is on a Harley. It was nice to be able to be out in public without an arrest warrant looming over my head. I could see that it’s driving her nuts trying to figure out where we’re going, but I wasn’t going to tell her. It was going to be a surprise and I couldn’t wait to gauge her reaction once we got there. All I knew was that I had some plans for my girl and she was about to take the first step in finding out what being a real bona fide old lady was all about.
As I pulled off the highway and onto an unmarked dirt road, all she could do was look around and wonder where in the fuck we were headed. It was actually quite comical to see her bewildered expressions. Eventually, we made it to our destination. I pulled into an empty parking lot with an old windowless steel building sitting right in the middle of it, the word Tattoos in big, faded letters right up front.
“You brought me all the way out here so I could watch you get a tattoo?” she asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
“No, not exactly. I brought you all the way out here so I could watch you get a tattoo,” I replied.
“What in the hell are you talking about?” She stared at me with a blank look.
‘Okay, let me explain this. All of the Coyote’s old ladies are branded. They get their man’s name tattooed on them. I brought you out here to brand you.”
“You brought me out here to brand me? What do I look like to you? A cow? You want to brand me like I’m some fucking livestock?”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” I said laughing. “It’s tradition. All the girls do it to show their dedication to their man. You are dedicated to me aren’t you? Am I what you want?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get you in there.”
“I don’t know Beast. Do we have to do it right now?”
“You planning on backing out on me?”
“I don’t really know if I am ready for a tattoo. I don’t have any tattoos and I’m afraid it’s going to hurt. I don’t do very well with needles and I can’t stand blood. I just don’t know if I can do it.”
“I promise you it’s not going to be anywhere as bad as you think babe. I’ll hold your hand if it makes you feel better.”
“It’s not just that, though. I’m not sure if I want to get your name permanently tattooed on me. I’ve already gone through one messy divorce. What if I do this and you don’t want to stay with me for the long haul? Then I’ve got your name on me and would have to find someone else with the same name, or get it covered.”
“You obviously don’t know anything about the motorcycle club culture,” I said to her. “Once you become my old lady, you’re my old lady for life. You won’t have to worry about ever finding someone new. Once you’re mine, you’re mine. I know bikers have a reputation from movies and shit but in reality, once we do this, it’s just you and me. If you’re devoted to me, I’m dedicated to you. When we have an old lady, we don’t fuck around.”
Paige looked up at me with a smile and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “You know what? I may end up regretting this one day, but I actually believe you. Let’s do this.”
We walked in and were i
mmediately greeted by Bouncer, a 450-pound mountain of a man who’s been a patched member of the club for more than 20 years. He came out from around the corner and gave me a hug.
“Beast, it’s good to see you brother. I didn’t think you’d ever be walking through those doors again. Everything good?”
“Everything is good brother. Charges are dropped for now.”
“That’s fucking fantastic. And who do we have here?” he asked, nodding his head in Paige’s direction.
“Bouncer, I would like you to meet Paige. She’s my girl and she’s about to officially be my old lady.”
“It’s good to meet you, Paige,” he said as he gave her a hug. “We doin’ what I think we’re doing here?”
“Oh, I think you know,” I said with a smile.
“We brandin’ your future old lady?”
“We sure are. Let’s give her a tramp stamp.”
“Cool, same as the other girls?”
I was about to say yes when Paige spoke up.
“What do the other girls have?” she asked.
“We give all the old ladies a brand that says “Property of” and then their man’s name written inside of a moon with a howling coyote in the background.”
“No, you’re not putting that on me. I don’t want an animal on my lower back. If I’m going to be your biker chick, I want something that makes me feel like a badass. You can do the words, but I want barbed wire wrapped around it. No moon, no coyote.”
Bouncer looked over at me and I gave him a nod. Paige wasn’t the kind of girl who would simply go along with what somebody told her to do. She was very strong-willed and that was one of the things I liked about her.
He went to the back to draw the tattoo up while Paige looked around the shop. She was impressed with some of the artwork in the books and couldn’t believe that they were all tattoos that Bouncer had done. Seeing the quality of his work seemed to put her mind at ease.
When Bouncer came back with the tattoo, we both approved it and Paige got up on the table. Once he prepared the area, he got started. Paige took it like a champ, not even flinching as the needle pierced her skin.
“You doing okay babe?” I asked.
“Fine. I’m not sure what I was so worried about.”
“I knew you’d do great. Listen, this is gonna take quite a while. Do you mind if I run someplace and take care of something real quick?”
“That’s fine. Will you be back by the time I’m done?”
“I’ll be back way before you’re done.”
I winked at her and told her I’d be back soon. I had to do something that I knew was very important to her. While she was throwing on her clothes back at the house, I grabbed her address book and looked up her dad. His address was written and it was only about five minutes from the shop. I wanted to go and meet the man in person.
The meeting itself went much better than I could have anticipated. I was nervous when I pulled up to see such a beautiful house. I was even more nervous when he answered the door and was well-dressed and clean-cut. I introduced myself and told him I was a friend of his daughter. Naturally, he thought something was wrong when he saw a biker standing before him, but I set his mind at ease and told him that we were actually dating and I wanted to come and meet him man to man. He asked about my cut and I told him about the club. He kept telling me that I looked familiar, but I wasn’t about to fill him in on the fact that my face was the one that had been plastered all over the television.
As we talked, I was surprised to find out how much we had in common. He used to ride motorcycles after college before he met Paige’s mother and he always admired the camaraderie that people in motorcycle clubs have for one another. His wife didn’t care for motorcycles so he gave them up and hadn’t ridden for years. I vowed at that moment to get him back on one as soon as possible. The thought made him smile.
I told him that it was nice to meet him and that I needed to get back as his daughter was waiting for me and didn’t know I was coming to meet him.
“So you did this on your own?” he asked. “You came to meet me just because you wanted to meet her dad? Not because she wanted you to?”
“Listen,” I reasoned with him, “she has no idea I even know where you live. Actually, the real reason for my visit is that I would like to ask your daughter to marry me. I also know how she is big on tradition so I wanted to make sure I met you and could get your blessing before I asked her.”
He held his hand out and shook my hand. “I have nothing but respect for you after coming out and handling things like a man. As long as I can walk my daughter down the aisle, you have my blessing.”
I pulled him in and gave him a hug. “I know I’m a biker and that automatically makes me an asshole in the eyes of some people. In a lot of ways, I can be a big jerk but I promise you I will treat your daughter right.”
“You better,” he replied with a tap on the arm.
I left his house knowing that Paige would be happy once she found out what I had done. I made it back to the tattoo shop just in time to see her art being finished. It turned out great and she seemed to be happy with it. I threw Bouncer some cash and was about to walk out the door when Paige stopped me.
“You said that if you make me your old lady, it’s forever right?”
“Damn right.”
“Then I want you to do something for me. I want you to get my name tattooed on you.”
“Paige, we don’t do that.”
“Didn’t I save your life? Without me, you would’ve been stuck in a foreign country for no reason. The least you could do is get a tattoo for me,” she pouted.
Getting a woman’s name tattooed on you was not something any of the guys had done, but like I’ve said all along, she was different and the usual rules weren’t necessarily going to apply to her. I told Bouncer what I wanted and he drew it up. Before I walked out of the shop, I had a lifeline tattooed above my heart with her name written on the flat line.
“I love it, Beast! It’s meaningful…and awesome!”
CHAPTER 26
PAIGE
Did I really just let a man permanently brand me with his name? What in the hell is wrong with me? I never would have let any other man talk me into getting their name tattooed on my body, but Beast isn’t any other man. He’s different. To everyone else in the world, he is this big tough guy with arms thicker than my legs and a neck almost as wide as my neck who always acts like an asshole but to me, he is much more than that. I see sides of him that he keeps hidden from the rest of the world. Hidden under all of those hard, wonderfully muscular layers, there is a softness that you wouldn’t expect. It surprised me the first time I saw it, especially considering how the two of us met.
When I was getting the tattoo, I started worrying about the implications that would come along with it. I know that it’s hidden on my back but what if the wrong person sees it? What if I’m out somewhere and have to bend over to pick something up, causing my shirt to lift? What if a member of the Aces happens to be standing there and sees it? Will that make me a target? It was too late to worry about that because the tattoo was done. Bouncer led me to a full-length mirror and handed me a smaller mirror that I could use to see the tattoo. Surprisingly, it looked great. I felt like a badass. I knew that most of my friends wouldn’t understand why I got the tattoo, especially considering that it said I was the property of a man, but that’s okay. They didn’t have to understand. I am in love with Beast and I’m proud to belong to him.
If I had any question as to whether or not he was as devoted to me as I am to him, all I had to do was look at him sitting in that chair with a needle permanently etching my name into his chest. For the rest of time, we would have this in common. As Bouncer was working on Beast, my phone started to ring.
“Hello?” I said, not bothering to look at the screen to see who was calling.
“Hello Paige, this is Nolan Retter. Is this a good time for you?”
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“I have some news. Is your boyfriend around as well?”
“Yeah, but he’s getting a tattoo right now.”
“Wow, didn’t take him long to get out at all. Anyway, the detectives have just completed their interrogation. All charges are officially being dropped against him and no other charges are forthcoming. That means no attempted murder charge, no assault charge, anything like that.”
“That’s great news!”
“Oh, it gets better. Our alleged victim has actually been placed under arrest and is being charged with filing a false police report and conspiracy to commit fraud. On top of that, some members of his club have been detained as well on the same charges. By the way, did you realize that some of their members were hiding out in your boyfriend’s house?”
BEAST (A Coyotes of Mayhem MC Novel) (Motorcycle Club Bad Boy Romance) Page 14